Save the Last Dance for Me
by Philyra
Summary: AU. Life continues on at the 8/13 Dance Studio through the lives of the second generation. Fifteenth and last part of the Strictly Ballroom series.
1. Spring and Autumn

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, because I'm not Kubo-sensei. The bleach I own keeps my whites white.

* * *

Hitsugaya Rangiku screamed, her hand gripping her husband's until he swore the individual bones were grinding together. "Breathe, Rangiku."

"Don't you dare tell me to breathe, Toushiro," she growled out, strawberry-blonde hair sticking to her forehead in limp strands. "You get up here and try to pass a watermelon through your penis before you tell me to breathe. Damn it, I want an epidural!" she wailed.

"You know we came here too late," the white-haired man reminded her, pointedly ignoring the awful image she'd planted in his head. He was trying to be brave, but it was terrifying to see the woman he loved go through so much pain. Why hadn't he listened to Shunsui when the older man had tried to tell him about this?

Oh yes. Because he thought he hadn't needed his advice. Hitsugaya Toushiro was a genius – he could handle anything the world threw at him.

Except childbirth.

Rangiku screamed again.

"Push, Hitsugaya-san!" one of the nurses was saying. "Only a few more!"

Panting, Rangiku complied before muttering out of the corner of her mouth, "I swear, Toushiro, if you so much as look at me after this I will personally castrate you – AHHHH!!!"

He was trying desperately not to turn green. "Right."

"Don't you dare pass out! I don't have the luxury of passing out, so you damn well do not-" With one last cry, she collapsed back onto the bed. A new wail pierced the air.

"And here's your girl!" the obstetrician proclaimed. "Hitsugaya-san, would you like to cut the cord?" she asked, nodding at Toushiro.

Smoothing the hair back from his wife's forehead, he smiled softly. "Good work, Rangiku," he murmured. "Rest a bit."

She sighed wearily and closed her eyes, a corner of her mouth tilting up.

Soon, Toushiro found himself cradling the precious bundle in his arms. She was a tiny miracle, her mop of white hair hidden beneath the little knit cap. She squirmed, hiccupped, and opened her eyes, revealing that she had also inherited her father's rare blue-green eyes. They stared at each other for a good while, and he felt his heart blossom like a flower turning to the sun.

He had been perfectly prepared to love their child no matter what, but he hadn't known that his heart had that kind of capacity for love. Before this day, he would have told anyone that loving Rangiku took up all of his heart and soul, but as he looked into the eyes so very much like his own, he knew that he had been wrong. Loving _these _two women took up all of his heart and soul, and he had no problem with that.

"She's so beautiful," Rangiku breathed when he handed her the baby. She pressed her nose to her daughter's head, laughing softly as a tiny fist gripped one of her fingers. She pouted. "She looks like you."

Toushiro just laughed. "What will we name her?"

Rangiku's gaze drifted to the window. Outside, the trees were magnificent: a riot of crimson and gold. "Aki."

"Aki? Autumn?"

"Yes." She kissed her daughter's head. "Remember that four seasons song? The person that autumn – Aki – loves is a matured person."

"Ever the romantic." He wasn't quite sure if he understood his wife's logic, but it was a beautiful name.

"You love that I'm a romantic," she teased.

"I love _you_," he corrected, and leaned down to kiss her.

A few days later Aki received her first visitors.

"Congratulations Toushiro!" Shunsui said genially, clapping the younger man on the back. "She's beautiful – and I do mean both of your ladies," he added.

Rangiku sat on the bed holding Aki, and she positively glowed. Her cheeks were flushed rosy red, her hair gleamed gold in the sunlight, and her eyes seemed brighter than ever. Toushiro had to agree. Even now, he was still in awe of the fact that she had chosen him. "Thank you, Shunsui-san," he said quietly. "Halu looks well," he added.

Shunsui flushed with pride. "My boy is perfect," he declared, smiling at Nanao, who was perched next to Matsumoto on the bed, holding their one-year-old son, Kyouraku Halu – spring, for the season in which he'd come into the world, as well as the season his father loved best. Halu was currently more content to gaze off into space than pay attention to the newborn so close to him – his mother was holding him, and he was fine with that.

"We'll have to arrange play dates, Nanao," Rangiku was saying, speaking softly so that she wouldn't wake her sleeping daughter.

Nanao brushed her fingers over the tuft of white hair. "Rangiku, I think Aki's a bit too young for play dates at the moment." Her tone was dry.

"I _know_, I'm just saying that in the future-" she cut herself off as Aki stirred, her face scrunching up as she let out a soft little cry. Halu turned his head, finally interested. His forehead creased in an expression very similar to his mother's as he observed the wailing bundle.

Rangiku was about to hand Aki to her father when she saw movement out of the corner of her eyes. "Wait," she said, both to her husband and Nanao, as Halu reached a chubby hand out to Aki. She wanted to see what would happen.

Halu, his brow now scrunched in concentration, gently took a waving fist in his hand. Aki, sensing the new and completely alien touch, stopped crying for one moment, taking the time to open her eyes. Searing blue-green collided with soft chocolate. The two regarded each other for a moment. Their parents held their breath.

Finally, Aki hiccupped, closed her eyes, and fell asleep once more. Halu, apparently satisfied, fell asleep as well.

Rangiku's eyes filled with tears. "How beautiful!" she whispered.

Nanao and Toushiro looked at her, alarmed. "Rangiku-"

"-please don't go planning the wedding just yet, for heaven's sake!"

Shunsui perked up. "A wedding! What a wonderful idea-"

Nanao threw her purse at him.

* * *

_Six months later_

"They're so cute together," Rangiku said, pursing her lips and cooing at the two toddlers together in the playpen.

Nanao sighed. "You know that I would never dream of not raising our children together, Rangiku, but sometimes I worry. Halu is shy, and Aki-"

"-definitely isn't?"

"Yes. She may look like Toushiro-san, but she already acts just like you." She winced as Aki grabbed Halu's hand and began gnawing on his fingers. The little boy whimpered and tried to get away, looking up at his mother beseechingly. It said a lot about him, though, that he didn't just yank his fingers out of Aki's mouth.

"So well-behaved," Rangiku marveled, replacing Halu's hand with a teething toy. "I could say the same for you, Nanao. Your son may look like Shunsui, but he definitely acts like you." She stroked his hair, which was growing into masses of chocolate-brown curls. "Is it too soon to teach them to dance?"

"Rangiku, Aki can't even crawl yet."

"So? It's never too early."

"In this case, I think it is. Come on, show me whatever it is you have to show me."

"Oh Nanao, you'll love the sketches, and I've already made patterns-"

The black-haired woman rolled her eyes as she was pulled into the other room.

Later on during the day, a harried Rangiku was carrying her crying daughter, cursing softly under her breath as she went through room after room in the studio. She didn't see the other person in the hallway until strong hands caught her arms, preventing a collision.

"_Shit_," she said eloquently, then looked up and blanched. "Kuchiki-san! I'm sorry," she offered lamely.

The nobleman looked down at her impassively. "Your daughter seems distressed, Hitsugaya-san," he observed.

Rangiku stared. Was he joking? "Ah, yes, she is. I think it's because she's started teething. I'm looking for Toushiro, but he seems to have disappeared and Aki has a doctor's appointment, but Aki is-" She brightened. "Kuchiki-san, could you please hold Aki while I look for her father? Toushiro's probably on the fire escape again and I don't want to take Aki out there, thank you!"

And before he could protest or say that he could go find Hitsugaya Toushiro, Kuchiki Byakuya found himself with an armful of wailing baby.

Byakuya stared. Her face was red and wrinkled, her eyes so tightly shut that he could not see the distinct eyes she'd inherited from her father. Her little fists waved in the air as she positively _screamed_.

Now he felt helpless and could not help but resent Rangiku a little bit. He was not good with children. Though with Hisana-

He shut his eyes and pushed back the pain for what could have been. Children or not, he was holding one right now, and he had to try and get her to stop crying. Carefully, he shifted the toddler in his arms until her face was on his shoulder and his hand was soothingly rubbing her back. He recoiled, trying not to think about the drool that was getting onto his Italian suit.

As if the change in position alerted Aki to the fact that this was a new person, the cries got smaller and smaller until the only sounds in the hallway were little hiccupping breaths. Byakuya pulled away slightly to find her eyes were open, wide, blue-green, and wondering as they stared into his own. They regarded each other for a moment, him wary and her curious.

Then she smiled a toothless, gummy smile, burbled happily, and grabbed his hair.

Despite the pain, Kuchiki Byakuya fell hopelessly in love.

Rangiku skittered into the hallway, with Toushiro walking sedately behind her. "I'm so sorry Kuchiki-san," she began, and stopped dead, ice-blue eyes blinking. Her daughter was pulling on Kuchiki Byakuya's hair. And he was…smiling.

A light bulb went off in her head. "Kuchiki-san," she said, keeping the amusement out of her voice. "How do you feel about babysitting?"

* * *

"How on earth did you manage to wrangle Kuchiki Byakuya into baby-sitting Aki?" Nanao asked over dinner.

"The woman's a mad genius," Toushiro muttered.

Rangiku laughed. "I have a feeling that when it comes to Aki, Byakuya will do anything. You didn't see what I saw – she just smiled at him and he turned into a puddle of goo." She shook her head while she buttered a roll. "She has him wrapped around her cute little fingers."

"Aki-chan will have a _lot _of people wrapped around her fingers." Shunsui glanced at Toushiro. "Just wait a few years, and you'll have boys banging on your door."

"Like hell," was the teal-eyed man's retort. "They have to get through me first."

"Don't worry, Toushiro-san." Nanao dabbed at the corner of her mouth with a cloth napkin. "You have years before you have to worry about the way she flutters her eyelashes at people." She grinned at her best friend.

He glared sourly at his wife. "I wonder where she got it." In response, Rangiku made doe eyes back at him. His glare grew in intensity – until he sighed, gave up, and took her hand in his, bringing it up to his lips in an uncharacteristic public display of affection. Rangiku melted.

Shunsui leaned over to Nanao. "He gets that from me, doesn't he, Nanao-chan?"

"You wish." The table exploded with laughter.

Shunsui turned pink. "Anyway, let's just enjoy a nice dinner out, shall we? It's on me."

* * *

_Six months later_

Rangiku stared at the giant pile of gifts, slack-jawed. "Ah…arigato, Kuchiki-san," she said faintly. "You didn't have to buy so many presents…I mean, I'm sure Aki will love them!"

Nanao cleverly disguised her snicker as a cough. Kuchiki Byakuya looked impassive as usual, though his cheeks were stained light red. "Perhaps I did go overboard," he admitted.

"Nonsense, Kuchiki-san," Nanao said, taking charge of the situation. "We all know you love Aki. Why don't you let us put these with the other gifts while you greet the birthday girl?" The nobleman nodded and quickly left the room, eager to get out of Rangiku's presence and to see her daughter. As soon as he was out of hearing range, Rangiku burst into peals of laughter.

"Oh, Nanao!" she choked, leaning against the wall. "This is too good!"

"It looks like you won't have to buy Aki a thing for the next year," her best friend deadpanned as she tried nudging a box that was almost as big as she was through the door and into the next room.

"That's my girl," Rangiku said proudly, wiping her eyes. "She's made a slave for life."

In another part of the house, Shunsui and Toushiro stood together as they watched Byakuya "walk" a wobbly-legged Aki around the backyard. "It's taking Rangiku an awfully long time to put away his gift," Toushiro observed.

Shunsui chuckled. "If I know Byakuya, he probably cleaned out an entire store for Aki's birthday. Right, Halu?" he crooned down at his son, who was clutching his hand. Halu looked up at his father and blinked solemnly.

"Aki," the boy said plainly.

"Do you want to go see Aki-chan?" Shunsui asked. Halu shoved his fingers in his mouth and nodded. "All right, go on then!" Halu turned and began walking towards Byakuya and Aki, his gait already steady.

Toushiro winced as Byakuya swooped in and prevented Aki from chewing on the tablecloth. "I envy you sometimes, Shunsui-san."

"How so?"

"Halu never seems to be as rambunctious as Aki is. It seems all Rangiku and I do is run after her. I think our reflexes have gotten better."

"Ah, let me guess. You see her reaching for something she shouldn't and you lunge to get either she or it out of the way." The older man grinned. "Halu can be just as mischievous as he wants to. However, his mother has this way of simply looking at him and he stops. It's a marvelous thing."

Toushiro hid a smile. That look did wonders for Halu's father, as well. "Well, perhaps he will be a good influence on Aki."

A happy squeal cut through the air, followed by wailing. The two men exchanged a look and were off: Shunsui to rescue Halu, who had a face full of cake and was not happy about it, and Toushiro to get Aki, whose hands were smeared with cake and were currently all over Byakuya's designer suit.

Fatherhood was certainly an experience.

* * *

_Four years later_

"_Kaa-san!_" The shriek echoed throughout the studio and had multiple pairs of feet thumping frantically to the room that had been designated the kiddy daycare room.

"What is it?" Rangiku and Nanao said at the same time, with Isane and Nemu on their heels.

Five-year-old Hitsugaya Aki stomped her foot. "Halu's being stupid! And boring!"

Six-year-old Kyouraku Halu sighed. "Kaa-san, tell her that she can't do a cartwheel in the middle of a routine!" he complained, pushing his glasses up.

"Why can't I? It makes it more fun!" she huffed, her pout eerily similar to her mother's.

"Humph." He glared and refused to reply.

"Kawaii!" Rangiku squealed. Nanao rolled her eyes.

"Aki," the black-haired woman said, kneeling in front of the girl. "Halu is right. Dancing does have rules and you can't just change them to suit you. However," she continued when Aki's lower lip stuck out mutinously. "If you do a freestyle routine, you can do anything you want." In the doorway, Isane and Nemu chuckled softly and left the room, having checked on their own children.

Blue-green eyes went thoughtful. "Even cartwheels?" she said hopefully.

"Even cartwheels," Nanao laughed.

Halu grumbled. Rangiku bounded over and wrapped her arms around the serious little boy, subjecting him to one of her infamous hugs.

"Rangiku, kindly put my son down," Nanao said dryly as her son turned beet red and tried to escape, crying, "Kaa-san, save me! Rangiku-ba-chan is being gross again!" Aki gleefully joined the fray, loving the game of "harass Halu."

Nanao turned to the pink-haired teenager who was watching the entire scene with a good-humored smile on her lips. "No luck diffusing the fight, Yachiru?" she queried.

Yachiru shrugged. "I almost had it, you know. I was about to mention freestyle, but then Aki screamed and I knew you'd handle it better."

"How do you like teaching them?"

"I'm exhausted," she laughed. It was clear she meant the opposite. The day Yachiru ran out of energy was the day the sky turned as pink as her hair. "Halu is a sixty-year-old man in a six-year-old body. He just _looks_ at me sometimes and I feel dumb. And Aki…Aki's like me!"

"Now you know how we felt when you were that age," Rangiku draped an arm around Yachiru's shoulders. "You and Aki _are_ very similar. I don't know what your father would have done if Nanao hadn't offered to start teaching you when you were four – much like the way you're teaching Aki and Halu now."

"I guess I should thank you both, then." She grinned, and the impishness in the curve of her lips indicated that even though she'd gotten older, she hadn't necessarily grown up. "Anyway, I love teaching them. Thanks for the help!" She bounded over to Aki and Halu, cheerfully saying, "Okay, today's new lesson is proper cartwheels!"

* * *

_Two Years Later_

"Halu, there you are! I've been looking for you!"

Halu glanced down from his perch on the railing. He offered a hand as Aki clambered up beside him. "It's noisy inside."

"Silly, it's Ikkaku-ji and Kiyone-ba's wedding! Of course it's noisy!" She paused. "Halu, what does getting married mean, anyway?"

The boy glanced over his shoulder at the crowd inside the ballroom, his eyes narrowed contemplatively. "Kaa-san said it's when two people really like each other and live together for the rest of their lives."

"Oh." Her brow furrowed as she thought about it. "Halu, does that mean we're going to get married, too? I mean, _we_ really like each other."

"Maybe we will," he said pensively. He really did like Aki – she was his best friend, after all. They liked all of the same things, especially ballroom dancing. "But not right now. We're really young."

"Yeah, and Ikkaku-ji and Kiyone-ba are really old!" Aki laughed. "But we should make a promise, ne Halu? That we'll get married when we're older?"

"Okay." He scooted around to face her on the railing. He smiled as he got a look at her. She'd already spilled something on her frilly dress, and her hair was falling out of the ponytail her mother had tied it in. His little tux, on the other hand, was still impeccably neat. "We'll get married."

Aki beamed. "All right then. We need to seal the promise with a kiss!"

Before Halu could protest, she leaned forward and touched her lips to his for one brief second. They both jerked back and stared at each other.

"Ew!" Aki wailed, the promise forgotten in light of this new development. "Now I have cooties!"

Halu retrieved a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his lips. "Gross."

"Aki! Halu! Come back inside, it's getting cold!" Nanao called from the doorway.

"Coming!" the two kids chorused, getting down from the railing and giving each other disgusted looks.

* * *

In four years, the dancing partnership of Kyouraku Halu and Hitsugaya Aki was in full swing. The two gifted youngsters had several youth titles under their belts and it was only a matter of time before they surpassed their parents.

Halu was already his father in miniature, from his poetic eyes to the curly brown hair that hung down his back. But it was his mother he took after in personality. He was cool, controlled, and mature beyond his years. Like his mother, he wore thin wire-frame glasses, and woe to anyone who made him angry enough to take them off. But he had his father's sensitive, caring heart and gave to others without a second's thought.

Aki was a physical carbon copy of her father and had inherited his determination and strength. But for the most part, she was Rangiku, from her bubbly personality to her wide-open, engaging grin. She was outgoing, confident, friendly, and possessing of a heart that rivaled her mother's. She was Halu's opposite in almost every way and yet they were the best of friends – just like their mothers.

However, today was not going to be one of those days.

"It's not _working_, Halu!"

Halu spun her out of hold. "Perhaps it would work if you actually concentrated, Aki." His words usually had no effect on her – normally she would laugh and continue on and they would practice until everything was perfect. But today, she turned on him, turquoise eyes snapping.

"Maybe if you stopped being pa-pa-patr-" she struggled for the word.

"Patronizing?"

"Yeah, that!" she shouted, bristling. Everything seemed to irritate her these days, and she didn't know why. "Don't look at me like that, Halu! Maybe I could concentrate if you actually helped me instead of acting like a butthead!"

Now he was just baffled. It looked like she was about to start crying, and Aki _never _cried. "Aki, I –"

"Oh, just _stop it_!" she shrieked before running from the studio.

Halu turned to Unohana, completely at a loss. "What did I do, Retsu-ba-chan?"

Unohana was fighting a grin. Aki's moods had been erratic lately, and she knew exactly why – she was a doctor and a woman, after all. "I think Aki's going through some…changes, Halu. They're making her act differently, but don't worry. She'll be fine."

Halu wasn't Nanao's son for nothing. After a minute or two, his brow cleared. "Oh. She's-" he turned a little green.

Sure enough, soon Aki streaked back into the studio, white with terror. "Retsu-ba-chan! I'm _dying_; I'm _bleeding_-" She collapsed into Unohana's arms, sobbing.

"There, there, Aki-chan. Let's just go over to the bathroom for a while, shall we? We'll have a talk." She smiled at Halu. "You can occupy yourself, can't you, Halu-kun?" She propelled a sniffling Aki out of the door, making soothing noises.

"Yes, Retsu-ba-chan." Halu settled on the window seat, propping his chin on his knees. His mother had explained the differences in boys and girls to him two years before, when he grew insecure about the fact that Aki was starting to grow taller than him. Luckily, he was catching up pretty fast, though he was now at the stage where his voice was beginning to crack – a source of endless amusement for Aki.

Halu frowned. Normally he didn't mind Aki's poking and prodding. He just ignored it. That was the way his mother and Rangiku-ba were and he knew how very similar his friendship with Aki was to theirs. But lately things were starting to change. He couldn't quite place it, but something about her was throwing him off balance lately. He wasn't quite comfortable around her, which was ridiculous because it was _Aki_. She was his best friend; it had been that way for years. He knew her inside and out, the same way she knew him.

Meanwhile, in the women's locker room, Aki was absorbing Unohana's lecture. "I understand, Retsu-ba-chan," she said. "I can see why tou-san and kaa-san would have wanted you to tell me." She beamed. "Tou-san would be too embarrassed and kaa-san wouldn't be able to get to the point."

Unohana laughed. "Indeed you're right, Aki-chan. Do you have any questions?"

The eleven-year-old shook her head, her white ponytail whipping around her face. "Nope! You explained everything."

"Good." She stood up. "Now, are you up to going back to practice?"

"With Halu the butthead?" Aki made a face. "I guess."

The older woman laughed. "You may change your mind in a few years, Aki."

"Ew, about _Halu? _No way!" But when they walked back into the studio, she regarded her partner with a considering eye.

Halu brushed an invisible speck of dust off his pants. "Are you ready to dance now?" His voice was dry and expectant, but his brown eyes were concerned. A tiny quirk of the eyebrow asked her if she was all right.

She smiled cheekily at him, throwing in a wink for good measure. "If you're asking if I'm going to dance in circles around you, Halu, then the answer is yes."

"Troublesome," he muttered with a roll of his eyes, but as she put her hand in his, she saw the almost imperceptible loosening of his shoulders that signaled his relief.

Unohana smiled inwardly. It was probably time for her to make a contribution to the betting pool.

* * *

_Six years later_

"Happy Valentine's Day, Halu!" Aki chirped, skipping into the studio.

Halu grunted and muttered something like, "I hate Valentine's Day."

She grinned mischievously. "Aw, what's wrong, Halu? Did you get a lot of chocolates today? You know that means you have to return the favor on White Day!"

"Exactly," he groused.

"You _are _in a bad mood," she observed. "How much chocolate did you _get?_"

"Enough to keep Yachiru-nee-san fully occupied for the next few hours."

Aki's jaw dropped. "Are you serious? That's kind of obscene!" Yet, looking at him, she wasn't surprised. Halu was _gorgeous. _He'd inherited his father's strong, sensitive features. His looks, when combined with his mother's aloof and polite personality, were an irresistible combination.

No one knew that better than Aki. Even though he was her best and oldest friend, she wasn't blind. He _was _attractive, but that wasn't what really drew her. Halu was her balance, her other half. He was a source of constant strength and grounding, always there when she needed him. Even though she was sixteen, she knew herself well enough to know that she would never want anyone the way she wanted Halu.

To be honest, she was jealous that he'd gotten so much chocolate. It meant that she had that much more competition.

"It is obscene," he agreed, adjusting his glasses. He glanced at her. "Did you make chocolate for anyone, Aki?"

The white-haired girl shook herself out of her reverie. "As a matter of fact, I did!" She'd made a small chocolate for each of her "uncles" at 8/13.

His expression darkened imperceptibly. "Did you?"

"Of course!" She hesitated slightly, the decided it was best to get it over with. "Though it will probably amount to nothing more than a hill of beans compared to your stash." She dug a plain white box out of her messenger bag and handed it to him, kissing him on the cheek.

"I like beans," Halu said, masking his surprise. He opened the box to find a single large piece of chocolate with four distinct colors swirled together, from white chocolate to a warm caramel brown to the darker brown of milk chocolate to the near blackness of dark chocolate.

"It's kind of a symbol of us, Halu," she explained, fighting back a blush. "Spring and fall. We might be separated," she said, indicating the white chocolate and the dark chocolate that were on opposite sides of the confection. "But we'll always be connected." She pointed to where they swirled together at the center. "Cheesy, I know, but-"

He put an arm around her and hugged her close, trying to keep his breath from catching. "It's great." He kissed her hair. "Thanks."

Shunsui felt like a voyeur, catching his son and his future daughter-in-law in such a moment. But some things could not be helped. Besides, he enjoyed catching them like that. It just meant he was that much closer to having grandchildren to spoil. "Happy Valentine's Day, ducklings!" he sang, pushing the door open with a bang.

Halu scowled at his father. Aki beamed. "The same to you, Shunsui-ji!" She pulled out a smaller box. "This is for you!"

"How lovely, Aki-chan!" Shunsui gifted her with a smile that was just as blinding. Yes, Aki was the perfect woman for his son. "I love receiving chocolates from beautiful women!"

"Tou-san, is there a reason why you're here?"

"My son is so _cruel!" _he proclaimed overdramatically. "But yes, I am here for a reason. I've been talking it over with Ran-chan, and we both agreed that you two are ready to start the Argentine tango."

Aki's jaw dropped. "But-but-but…that's like having sex on the dance floor!"

"Aki, we're both adults and it's just a dance." Halu looked bored, but his insides were in turmoil. The Argentine tango wasn't as wholly sexual as the rumba in terms of technique, but the _attitude _of the dance was much more adult. When they danced the rumba for competitions, they always erred towards the more innocent side of the "dance of love." There was nothing _innocent_ about the Argentine tango.

"Oh my son, I'm so proud of you!" Shunsui sobbed, launching himself at him. "I knew you were a chivalrous man who would never threaten Aki-chan's honor!"

But what if I _want _him to do that? Aki thought sourly. She couldn't be blamed for her actions, especially if she ended up jumping him in the middle of a routine.

"Tou-san, stop it, you're embarrassing." Halu pushed his father away gently but firmly.

A gloom settled over the 8/13 owner. "So cold, so cruel, my son!" he cried. "Just like your mother!"

Halu rolled his eyes. He loved his father, truly, for Kyouraku Shunsui was an easy man to love. That did not stop him from being infuriating. Luckily, he had his mother's behavior as a model, since she was the only one short of Jyuushiro-ji who could keep him in line. "The dance, tou-san?" he prompted.

"Of course." Shunsui instantly went into teaching mode. Halu appreciated that aspect, not only in his father, but also his mother, Aki's parents, and the other teachers at 8/13. At the end of the day, they were family, but in the studio, they were teachers. "By the way, Toushiro and I will be switching off with this dance. Now, the hold-"

Halu blanched. Teacher or not, there was no telling how Hitsugaya Toushiro would react to seeing him dance the Argentine tango with his precious daughter.

* * *

Toushiro thought he was doing a good job of teaching Aki and Halu the Argentine tango, all things considered. He had to admit that he'd hit the roof when Rangiku brought up the subject of teaching them that dance, but could anyone blame him? He didn't want anyone's hands on Aki in that way, even if it _was_ Halu. But Rangiku had put her foot down. Years of experience taught him that when she was that bull-headed, there was no room for change, only compromise. The only way he could compromise was to help teach them himself.

But how could he approach this next part? They had the steps; that was only to be expected. The most basic steps of the Argentine tango were slow, walking steps, similar to the traditional tango. Aki and Halu had progressed to the more difficult moves in a week. Their technique was flawless.

"Stop." He looked at them, forcing himself to see them as yet another student couple. "You two are holding back, and I understand why. This dance is more adult than anything you two have ever done and you are afraid to give in to it emotionally, especially in front of your parents."

Halu nodded. No matter how much he tried to deny it, the fact remained that he was a hormonal teenager. He'd been noticing Aki since he was thirteen. She was beautiful, to be sure, but she was so much more than that. He loved her life and her humor, so entirely different from his own. He'd suppressed those feelings to the best of his ability, but the Argentine tango had an annoying way of bringing them to the forefront.

It didn't help that she was his best friend. He shouldn't be feeling this way about her!

Aki blushed. Her father had an uncanny knack of reading her mind. Her first impression was right: dancing the Argentine tango with Halu was a mistake. As each lesson wore on, her control eroded as well. The plain truth was that she wanted to jump him, but she held herself back so that she wouldn't. She also didn't want her father to kill Halu for something that was _her _doing, for surely he didn't feel the same way.

She pouted. Sometimes she wondered if Halu even knew she was a girl. The arms that had been wrapped around her were as impersonal as a doctor's.

"As wonderful as your technique is, you have to have the emotion as well," Toushiro continued. "_El tango no está en los pies. Está en el corazón. _Tango is not in the feet. It is in the heart." He paused. "That's enough for me for today. I want you two to keep practicing. We'll see how you do tomorrow."

Toushiro fought every fatherly instinct he had to _not leave the studio _but he forced himself to go. He had just given them permission to explode, whether they knew it or not. He could only hope that if they did, they had the decency to tone it down tomorrow. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "This sucks," he said petulantly, forgetting the fact that he was in his forties and far too old to be pouting.

"Your father is right," Halu remarked after Toushiro-ji left. His breath stirred some of the strands that had come loose from Aki's bun. She suppressed a shudder. "We've never held back before – why should we do so now?"

_Because I_ _am a hormonal teenage girl who cannot be held accountable for her actions_, Aki wanted to say. But instead, she looked up at him and grinned. "I guess we'd better fix that, then."

His right hand closed on her back in response, pulling her close. She stopped him with a firm hand on his bicep. "Not so close, cowboy," she said coyly.

Some indeterminate emotion flashed in Halu's eyes – something hot and searing that drove all the breath from her lungs. "We'll see about that," he responded.

The Argentine tango was a dance of oppositions. It was hard and soft, fast and slow, dominant and submissive, full of love and hate. For every action there was an equal and opposite reaction. Every time he moved into her space, she countered by moving away. She beckoned, he came. He pushed, she pulled.

There were about six inches between them in their hold, but due to their connection, it seemed like they were one entity. Every breath was shared and it seemed as though their hearts beat to the same driving rhythm.

Aki's breath hissed out of her when he dipped her, his hand making a small pass from her shoulder blade to her stomach and back. That caress only covered a small area, but every nerve in her body seemed to have felt it. She was snapped back up and her left hand barely had time to stroke his hair before they were back in hold.

Halu used every ounce of strength he had to keep himself firmly in control, but everything she was threatened to overwhelm him. She was defiant and passionate, meeting him as defiantly and passionately as a raging storm meets a mountain range. And he wondered dimly, if the mountains would give under that pressure.

As suddenly as the dance started, it stopped. The two teenagers stared into each other's eyes, Aki and Halu once more.

_Oh kami_, was all Aki could think. Every instinct she had _screamed _to latch onto Halu and never let go. She clamped a lid down on her hormones and grinned. "Hot _damn_," she exclaimed, slapping her best friend on the back. "That was freaking _awesome, _Halu, I didn't know you had it in you!" She bounced back on her heels, her eyes sparkling.

Halu blinked, desperately trying to clear the fog that had settled over his brain. "Thanks…I think."

"Oh, you _know _it was a compliment," was the blithe reply. "I think tou-san will be very happy tomorrow. Oh, look at the time! I think Bya-kun is expecting me. Ja ne!"

She was out the door before Halu could say another word. The teenager removed his glasses and wiped them, as he always did when he was in need of a particular degree of calm. "Nuts," he muttered.

* * *

Kuchiki Byakuya watched with thinly veiled amusement and exasperation as Aki bounced around his office, poking her nose into every nook and cranny as if she'd never been there before. She had sailed into the office thirty minutes earlier, to the long-suffering protests of his secretary (who really should have been used to this kind of thing by now). Aki hadn't stopped moving ever since.

He hid a grin behind his hand. He truly loved Aki like she was his own daughter. Even with the arrival of Rukia and Ichigo's children – the twins Masahiro and Hisana, whom he doted on – there was something about the daughter of Hitsugaya Toushiro and Rangiku that pulled at his heartstrings. Of course, he would never admit this, though his feelings were transparent enough to the population of the 8/13 studio.

This did not mean that Aki could not drive him to distraction. The monthly reports for the Kuchiki Corporation were very important, but her hyperactivity was preventing him from reading them. He pressed the intercom button. "Secretary Mao-san?"

"Hai, Kuchiki-sama?"

"Please find me a copy of last year's quarterly revenue figures, along with a highlighter."

"Hai, Kuchiki-sama. Right away."

Five minutes later, the items requested were sitting on his desk. Byakuya glanced at Aki, who was now prodding his potted plant like she'd never seen one before. "Aki-chan."

Aki jumped guiltily. "Yes?"

"I suggest you channel your boundless energy through a more useful medium than inspecting my office. The janitors will be most unhappy if they think their work is unsatisfactory." She flushed. "You can make yourself useful by looking over these revenue figures and highlighting any trends you see."

Aki picked up the file and highlighter indicated. "Trends, Bya-kun?"

"Unlike last time, I want you to find any recurring patterns rather than anomalies. Report to me when you're finished." He pointed to a chair, his lips twitching. "I expect something clear and concise, do you understand?"

"I understand," Aki said, her brow wrinkling. She curled up into a comfortable chair and began, her tongue poking out between her lips.

Byakuya shook his head. This was the third time this week Aki had ended up in his office, overflowing with a certain type of mad energy. He could only assume this was an odd side effect of her Argentine tango lessons with Kyouraku Halu. Hitsugaya-san had warned him of her daughter's almost manic energy afterwards and asked him to watch after her.

He sighed. Aki was growing up. Of course she was high-strung after the lessons – her crush on the Kyouraku heir had been growing ever since she was an adolescent. It was only a matter of time before things exploded. The best thing he could do was try and channel that energy elsewhere. The best solution just happened to be putting her to work. She was surprisingly adept at business matters. She had a shrewd and logical mind and was comfortable with the structure and logic of figures and infrastructure.

However, it was still a complete surprise when, after three months of checking Kuchiki Corp's reports (and four months of the Argentine tango), Aki went up to her parents and announced, "I don't want to be a ballroom dancer anymore. I want to run a business like Bya-kun."

* * *

AHAHAHA _CLIFFIE_!

I've always wanted to do that. No, this certainly is not the end of Aki and Halu's story - I realized that I could not do justice to their story in one go. Therefore, Aki and Halu's story (and the last SB installment) is going to be a two-shot. So don't worry! :D I'm still writing the next part, which is going to skip forward about three years, to when Halu will be 21 and Aki will be 20. If you're curious as to how I picture them, head over to my profile - I'll post links to my deviantart page where I've done a portrait of each of them. Please review!


	2. The Four Seasons

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, because I'm not Kubo-sensei. The bleach I own keeps my whites white.

* * *

"Kaa-san, how much has 8/13 changed in three years?" Kyouraku Halu said to his mother in an undertone, tucking her hand into his elbow as they walked behind Shunsui. The elder Kyouraku was exclaiming about all the "changes" he'd made to the venerable studio.

"Besides general maintenance, nothing much." Nanao rolled her eyes. "But you know your father."

"Indeed I do." He smiled slightly. "I suppose he's doing all of this for my benefit."

"In a way, he is. He and Jyuushiro-san are getting old. We're all getting old," Nanao admitted. "I think they're both getting ready to hand over the running of the studio to you, once you graduate from Todai."

"I do know that," her son acknowledged gravely. "And on some level, I am ready."

"But on the other level?"

He shrugged. "Kaa-san, you know I can handle the business affairs of 8/13 as well as tou-san, but I would prefer not to." He preferred working with people as opposed to figures.

"You can always get a partner – in fact, I think your father and your uncle would prefer it."

"I intend to."

Nanao looked up at her son. There was a certain calculating gleam in his eye. Since she knew her son very well, she knew where his thoughts were headed. "Aki will not agree to this idea easily," she cautioned. "Halu, it's been three years and you've barely spoken."

"It was partially my fault," he admitted. "She hurt my pride."

"And your feelings."

"And my feelings," Halu agreed, adjusting his glasses. "But she is still my best friend and I cannot imagine running this studio without her. It is even for the best that she has been studying business matters so diligently at Keio."

"Halu, speaking as your mother and a woman, do not go about maneuvering her," Nanao warned. "It will not turn out well for either of you. Aki is her own woman. If anything, she has become even more stubborn in the last three years."

"I wouldn't expect anything less." He smiled, and that smile was so similar to Shunsui's when he was plotting something that Nanao couldn't help but be worried. "Don't worry, kaa-san."

Yes, Kyouraku Halu indeed had a plan. It had been three long years since Hitsugaya Aki had announced her "retirement" from ballroom to the world. It had been three years since he'd stormed off to California to study with Urahara Kisuke in an uncharacteristic fit of pique on his part. He'd seen Aki's announcement as nothing less than a complete betrayal and acted accordingly. He could not understand why she saw fit to throw away years of training and to his mind, years of friendship.

But Halu was never one to stay angry for long. It had always been Aki who held a grudge. After about a year in L.A., he realized that the fault had been shared on both sides. He should have made the effort to discover her reasoning instead of overreacting. _She _should have talked to him when she'd begun having doubts, instead of springing her decision upon him so suddenly. There were things they both should have done to ameliorate the situation, but they'd both been too stubborn and hurt to do so.

All of that was going to change. Halu nodded to himself. He wanted Aki by his side when he ran 8/13. He wanted to show her that she could have business and ballroom – and more. Partners, but in more ways than one.

Three years had also taught him that he never wanted to be separated from her again.

"And in here we have – why, just _look _at who we have here!" Shunsui cried.

Halu glanced up and into Hitsugaya Aki's startled gaze as she bounced Abarai Hajime on her hip. The women of 8/13 were all assembled, cooing over the newest addition to Renji and Nemu's brood.

"Halu-chan!" Rangiku-ba squealed happily, bounding across the studio and pulling him into one of her infamous hugs. Halu refrained from rolling his eyes. From his father's tone to Rangiku-ba's overenthusiastic greeting, he knew that this "chance" meeting was a setup. Rangiku-ba and his father had always been far too obvious in their efforts to play matchmaker. He wouldn't be surprised if they had the entire wedding already planned. However, this behavior – which had been annoying when he and Aki were teenagers – was most welcome right now. There was no better time to set his plan in motion.

"Come, come!" Shunsui chirped, plucking Hajime from Aki's grip while Halu was swarmed by his "aunts." "Let's let these two kiddos catch up!"

Halu endured a few more pinches on the cheek, his eyes locked on Aki's. He fought down a smile. She'd gone white with surprise to red with anger in a matter of seconds. Yes, Aki could indeed hold a grudge.

Hitsugaya Toushiro looked curiously at the swarm of women making their way down the hallway with Shunsui in their midst. "What's going on?"

"What's happening is that our spouses are up to their old tricks," Nanao said tartly, nodding at the open studio door. Toushiro's eyes widened when he spied Aki and Halu.

"They're talking?"

Violet eyes regarded him with amusement as she guided him behind the group. "Toushiro-san, if you think my husband and your wife have given up on our children being together, you are sadly mistaken."

He groaned and buried his face in his hands. "They found some way to bring them face to face? Even though Aki's made it clear that she never wants to see him again?"

"I assume so, yes." She sighed and folded her hands. "Do you remember how terrified we were when we made the decision to let them learn the Argentine tango when they were teenagers? Add to that three years of misunderstandings and I daresay the explosion we expected then is going to happen now."

"Aki is barely _finished _being a teenager. Like hell if I'm going to let her-" Toushiro stopped himself. "What am I saying?"

"Something about not letting Aki and Halu be together," Nanao said with amusement.

"No. I admit that if I'd want her to be with anyone, I'd want her to be with Halu." He grimaced. "If anything, you're the one who should be afraid, Nanao-san. Aki is far more likely to try and take advantage of Halu than he of her."

"True enough," the older woman mused, frowning slightly. "Though I daresay there's just enough of his father in him for you to be wary."

"Well, if it's going to happen then it's going to happen." He offered her his arm. "Shall we?"

Nanao accepted. "We shall."

* * *

"Halu," Aki said stiffly.

"Aki," he returned pleasantly.

She looked at him suspiciously. "I can't say it's a pleasure to see you," she remarked, her tone deliberately catty.

"And for that I'm sorry," he replied, knowing very well what she was up to. He knew that he'd have to do a lot of humoring and coddling over the next few weeks. Normally, he would have balked at such a thing but Aki – and their relationship – was worth it. "I know it's a little late for apologies-"

"I'll say so," she snorted, puzzled by his reaction.

Halu fought the urge to sigh. "But I was hoping that you would accept it anyway. I have a proposition for you."

"A _what?_"

"A proposition." He strolled around the studio, noting that the floors had been waxed recently. "I will be shadowing tou-san and Jyuushiro-ji for the next year or so, gradually taking over the running of 8/13." He stopped and examined the sound system, making a mental note to talk about upgrading it. "I have spent my entire life watching tou-san run this studio and I know that I will do a good job in his stead."

"Yes, you will." It rankled to pay him such a compliment, but Aki knew everything that he was capable of. Halu was brilliant; 8/13 would flourish under his hand. "But what does this have to do with me?"

He wiped his glasses, wondering how he was going to approach this. "I am not as business-minded as I would like. I need a partner in the running of this studio, just as Jyuushiro-ji is a partner to tou-san. Someone who knows business. I cannot think of anyone better than you."

Aki gaped. She had to have heard that wrong, but she knew her hearing was perfectly fine. "You…you have a lot of nerve, Halu! You disappear on me for three years and now you just ask if I can help you run 8/13? Need I remind you that you stopped talking to me _because _I chose business over ballroom?"

"And I already told you that I apologize for that," he said calmly. "Yes, I could have handled it better but you also could have talked to me when you were making your decision, as opposed to blindsiding me. Let me finish," he said, holding up a hand as she opened her mouth. "I understand that this puts you in a difficult place. You may have given up on ballroom entirely, I don't know. But we worked well together once and I believe that we can work well together once more. We just need time."

She didn't really have anything to say to that. Halu was right. The sensible side of her was offended by his offer and the irrational side of her wanted to take it with everything she had. "I…" she began.

"You don't have to give me an answer now," he interrupted, making his way out of the studio. "Just think about it. You know where to find me."

Aki plopped on the ground, her mind whirling. She felt like she'd been run over by a train. "A train named Kyouraku Halu," she grumbled. Her emotions were conflicting: rage at his audacity to try and come back into her life, happiness that he had, confusion with his proposition, and sheer helplessness at the effect that he still had on her.

She rubbed her temples. _There _was the rub. Three years should have cured her of any feelings that she'd been harboring for her best friend. She should have known better – there was no getting over a guy like Halu.

Now he was back – and with a crazy idea, no less. She'd expected that his return would come with some attempts to get her back into ballroom, but she hadn't expected _this_. Did he truly mean it? Did he really just want her business skills? She gritted her teeth. This required some thinking.

* * *

"So, Halu-kun, I've gathered all of the figures for the last month: revenues, expenses, and so forth," Ukitake Jyuushiro explained, handing a folder over to Halu as Shunsui looked on. "I wanted you to get an idea of what we go through on a monthly basis."

"Thank you, Jyuushiro-ji," Halu said, skimming through the contents.

"I assume that there are quarterly and annual reports as well?" Aki asked from the doorway. The three men turned around to look at her.

Jyuushiro's brow furrowed. "Yes. I keep detailed reports, Aki-chan, but I don't know why-" he began.

"Aki's decided to be my partner in this endeavor," Halu said smoothly, hiding a smirk of satisfaction. The plan was in motion. "Isn't that right?"

"A _strictly business _partner," was the brusque reply as Aki strode into the office. She wore a smart-looking pantsuit, her white hair rolled into a simple bun at the nape of her neck. She plucked the folder from Halu's fingers. "I'm leaving the ballroom aspect to you."

"Is that all right with you two?" Halu asked his father and uncle, completely unruffled by her behavior. The older men seemed baffled by the tableau in front of them, though there was a dawning sense of excitement in Shunsui's eyes.

"I suppose so," Jyuushiro murmured.

"It will be fine!" Shunsui exclaimed. "We wanted Halu to have a partner, anyway! And it's all for the better if it's Aki-chan, since she knows the studio so well." He smiled benevolently, the gears turning in his mind. He just _had _to tell Ran-chan: being partners meant that Aki and Halu would be spending a _lot _of time together. "Aki-chan can simply join you in your apprenticeship! We'll leave you two to look over the figures together for a little while and then we'll be back to continue your training!" He dragged his protesting best friend out the door.

"Shunsui, will you just _wait _a moment, there are still things we need to discuss-"

"Nonsense!" he boomed. "It can all wait until later, can't it?"

Halu rubbed the bridge of his nose. His father had all the subtlety of a rampaging rhinoceros. He glanced over at Aki. "So, would you like to explain what some of those things mean?"

She closed the folder and looked back at him. Kami he looked good today, with dark jeans and a black t-shirt beneath a white military-style jacket. "Aren't you curious as to why I decided to say yes?"

"Not really," he replied with studied negligence. "All that matters is that you said yes."

"Are you serious?" she said incredulously. "You don't want to know?"

"Again, not really." He fought to keep his lips from twitching. It was always fun to provoke her. "But I suppose you'll tell me anyway, as that's your way."

Aki's eyes narrowed. She wasn't going to give him the satisfaction, the bastard! "Well, maybe I won't!"

"Then don't." He raised an eyebrow. "The figures?"

"Oh, I'll _show_ you the figures," she muttered, opening the folder. "Now, looking at the monthly revenue…"

Truth be told, there was no clear reason as to why she'd agreed. Perhaps it was just a random moment of insanity – one that Bya-kun approved of.

_Kuchiki Byakuya raised his eyes from the computer screen. "Kyouraku Halu asked you to do what?"_

_Aki paced up and down the length of his office, her hands clasped behind her back. "Halu asked me to be his business partner for when he inherits 8/13."_

_Grey eyes flickered ever so slightly, but Aki was too agitated to catch it. "Did he, now?"_

_"Yes, he did. He has a lot of nerve, coming to me with this," she muttered._

_"I agree that he has some nerve, but I do believe Halu-san has a lot more sense."_

_"Sense? How is there any sense in this, Bya-kun? We haven't spoken in three years!"_

_Byakuya sat back in his chair. "Aki-chan, look past the…improbability of this request and see it for the opportunity it is. 8/13 is the most successful and well-run dance studio in the country. There are worse places for you to garner some real-world experience."_

_"And I haven't been getting any here?" she pointed out._

_"Versatility is a must in the business world. Whatever experience you can get, the better." He raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to let this opportunity pass you by?"_

_"But…versatility? And Halu only wants me there in a business sense."_

_"Does he?" Not for long, he wagered. That was when things were going to get interesting. "It is still a most impressive item to add to your resume, is it not?"_

Aki sighed. One could always trust Byakuya to boil something down to its most logical constituents. Indeed, it was entirely logical _to _accept Halu's proposition, if only because being a partner in the running of 8/13 did look greaton her resume. It was something few of her classmates at Keio could boast. Besides, Shunsui-ji and Jyuushiro-ji always professed that they loved their job. If she could love this job as well…

"All right, numbers session is over," Jyuushiro announced, coming back into the office. "Time for some observation."

* * *

Things fell into a fairly simple routine after that. Aki and Halu would come to 8/13 after their respective classes to shadow Shunsui and Jyuushiro as they went through their tasks for the day. Aki spent most of her time with Jyuushiro, fielding telephone calls and answering e-mails regarding events and obligations and tracking revenues and expenses. It was very rare for him to teach; only once in a while did he take on the task of training a promising couple.

Most of the day-to-day teaching and coaching was left to Shunsui. He was the one who decided on what classes would be taught and when they were scheduled. He kept track of all of the amateur and pro dancers who trained at the studio. He was the chief dance instructor and coach, though he delegated those tasks to the dancers as he saw fit. It was these tasks that Halu would take when he inherited the studio.

Aki glanced at the clock and then out the window, where true night had fallen over Tokyo. She had discarded her suit jacket long ago and rolled up the sleeves of her Oxford shirt, her hair escaping in wisps from her elegant chignon. All of the classes would have ended by now, so it was about time to powwow with Halu as she usually did at the end of each day. Jyuushiro-ji and Shunsui-ji had begun to take more of a step back in their duties as mentors and were allowing her and Halu more responsibility.

_"Jyuushiro-ji, I just received a fax from Tokyo General Hospital about the charity ball-"_

_"Hmmm, yes, it is about time to start planning the children's performance, isn't it?" he mused. "Well, I'll leave this in your capable hands, Aki-chan."_

_"M-me?"_

_"Of course. You and Halu-kun have been doing such a wonderful job. I'm sure Shunsui will agree with me in this. You two should plan this together. Think of it as a challenge." He winked. "Good luck!"_

She sighed. It was time to do some brainstorming. "Halu?" she called.

"In the ballroom," was his faint reply.

"We've been put in charge of planning the children's performance at Tokyo General's charity ball, so I think we'd better get started on some ideas-" she began as she walked through the giant double doors. Anything else she might have said died in her throat.

Halu stood in the middle of the darkened ballroom, barefoot and clad in black pants and a white wifebeater. Moonlight streamed through the windows, highlighting the sheen of sweat on his skin and the way his shirt clung to his lean, muscular form. Brown curls were escaping from his usual ponytail and his glasses were nowhere to be seen.

"Ideas?" he echoed, turning towards her. "Would any of those ideas have anything to do with choreography?"

"Well, I believe I'll just leave that to you, as you're the one who's taking over the position of chief dance instructor," Aki replied as nonchalantly as she could. Every hair was standing up at the back of her neck due to the intense focus of his gaze.

"That doesn't mean that it should all be my idea, don't you think?" Halu countered, gliding forward. They were truly alone and he wanted to dance with her. He'd been going agonizingly slow the past few weeks. It was time to show her that she could have ballroom _and _business – and more.

"I'm perfectly all right with working on the logistics of this performance, Halu," she said nervously. It was like being stalked by a panther: sleek, dark, and dangerous.

"I'm sure you would, but I'd appreciate some help." He circled her slowly. "Aki, do you miss dancing at all?" He kept his tone light and teasing, so that she didn't think he was criticizing her.

"I don't miss getting all sweaty, stinky, and sore," she joked weakly. "Halu, I'm having space bubble issues here, can you just back away?"

"Nope." He smiled and approached her slowly from the front. "Dance with me." _One. Two. Three and four_. His steps echoed the rhythm.

Her heart sped up. She knew exactly what he wanted. It was the Argentine tango, the very last dance that they learned together. It was a dance that had the potential to ruin them both. "No." But somehow, he'd pushed her to the center of the ballroom. She tried to dodge right – but he pivoted on his left foot, spinning in a half turn until she ran into his back. She tried to go left – but he simply slid left as well, his left arm naturally coming up to land on her waist. It was like a fiery brand through the thin material of her shirt.

"Dance with me," Halu coaxed, still smiling. She tried to go right again, only to be stopped by the same move. He pivoted around to face her, stepping forward into her space as a challenge.

Aki felt something in her waver. Dare she admit how much she wanted to dance with him again? "_Fine_," she snapped. "But just this once." She allowed him to pull her into hold and she remembered why this was such a bad idea. Being in Halu's arms was an experience like none other, especially when it came to the Argentine tango.

The Argentine tango was about everything being subtly sexy. There was innuendo in the way her toe delicately teased its way up his calf, the way he captured her foot between his, the way their legs slid against each other's as they moved together seamlessly. The hold this time was incredibly intimate, close on the upper body with their faces never more than an inch apart.

Aki hated how easily she slid back into the rhythm of the dance, and it showed in her eyes. Her gaze was insolent and rebellious on his as she showed _resistance _in every movement. She wouldn't give in, even though her heart was racing, just begging to jump right out of her chest. She wouldn't give in, even though his scent of spices and musk threatened to overwhelm her. She told herself that she didn't want this, even though deep in her heart she knew it to be a lie.

He would make her give in, Halu thought. She had to see it, to feel it. He couldn't dance with anyone but her. Heaven knows he'd tried, but there was no one he had that connection to. He tried to channel that and everything else he was feeling, but it was hard to escape the heady feeling of finally having her in his arms again. How could she not see the way she just fit perfectly against him? How three years couldn't erase the seamless communication they had? How could she deny it?

They ended with her right leg twined about his hips, her face buried in chest, and her arms about his neck. Halu's hand skimmed up from her waist to her chin, tilting it back so that he could see her. Her eyes were a brilliant blue-green, shimmering with passion and fury. Something deep inside of him responded and he closed the gap, their lips meeting ferociously.

Aki gasped and clung to Halu, her head spinning. She'd dreamed of this since she was thirteen, though she'd imagined their first _real_ kiss to be more…tender and soft, since that was Halu's style. No, this kiss sent waves of intense and shocking need straight to the system. Any reservations she might have had floated away as she wrapped herself around him even tighter, intent on prolonging the moment.

This was right, and they both knew it.

The timbre of the kiss changed. The torrent of passion that started the kiss ebbed into a softer, deeper emotion built on years of friendship, understanding, and trust. Kami, Aki thought prayerfully. This wasn't a crush anymore and hadn't been for a long time. Somehow, the years apart had deepened that shallow affection into something more, much more. Something…like love.

Aki's heart turned over in her chest in a mixture of panic and sheer longing. "Halu…what do you want from me?" she whispered. Everything was so confusing. He'd been so perfectly nonchalant and businesslike in the past few weeks, and now _this. _He was turning her whole world upside down _again_.

"What I've always wanted, Aki," he said raggedly. He hadn't planned for the kiss; it threw all of his well-laid plans right out the window. The only thing he could focus on was her. Shock made him honest. "You. Only you."

That simple phrase simultaneously mended the break she'd carried in her heart for the past three years and broke it all over again. It was far too much to handle. Aki put her hands on his chest and shoved him back. "I…I can't think right now, Halu. Just…stay away from me right now, okay?" She ran from the ballroom.

Halu ran a hand over his face, shaken.

* * *

"Aki?" Rangiku tapped on her daughter's bedroom door. "Darling, are you all right?"

She and Toushiro were used to the wild swings of their daughter's emotions, but that never made things easier. It was especially worrisome when she looked like _that_, all wild-eyed and frazzled. Aki had only looked like that once before: when Halu left for L.A. without a word.

"Rangiku, it's obvious that she's not all right," Toushiro stated, shrugging when she glared at him. "What? It _is _obvious. The better question is if she wants to talk to us about it."

"Why wouldn't she? We're her parents!"

"Aki is also twenty years old. You can't expect her to tell us everything, no matter how much we want to know."

The door opened and it was only Toushiro's quick reflexes that kept Rangiku from falling inside Aki's room. "I can hear you two, you know," she said. "Come on in."

"Aki, don't invite us in just because your mother's nosy," Toushiro said, ignoring Rangiku's indignant 'Hey!' "If you don't want to talk right now, it can wait."

"Nah. Kaa-san might explode if I don't." Aki winked and plopped down on her bed. When her parents settled down on each side of her, she reiterated the whole story.

"Oh dear gods, _finally-_"

Toushiro shot her a warning look. "Don't listen to your mother. You know how she feels about you and Halu."

"Don't I just?" Aki drawled, shooting a mischievous look at Rangiku, who looked put out that she was being ganged up on. She leaned on her mother. "Be that as it may, I can't wrap my head around this right now. I mean, we aren't where we were three years ago. I feel like we haven't gotten our friendship back yet – and I know _that _will never be the same, but now _this?_ It's all too much."

Rangiku's eyes softened. "Sweetie, I understand, I really do," she said, stroking Aki's hair. "As ridiculous as Shunsui and I have been, the only thing we really want is for you two to be happy."

"It's all right if you're overwhelmed," Toushiro added, taking his daughter's hand.

"I think overwhelmed is too small a word, tou-san," she mumbled.

"Yes, well love does tend to make everything a bit more complicated."

"Whoa!" Aki's head shot up. "I never said anything about love, kaa-san."

"You didn't have to." Rangiku ignored Toushiro's glare and Aki's panicked look. "Aki, I know you too well. You'd be lying if you said you didn't love Halu."

"I loved the Halu I grew up with," she corrected, unable to really disprove the statement. "I don't know who this Halu is."

"Find out, then," Toushiro suggested.

* * *

"Halu?" Nanao called as her son passed the den. "Come in here, please."

Halu sighed. He did not feel like talking to his parents right now. "I'm tired, kaa-san. Could we talk tomorrow?"

"Halu, listen to your mother," came his father's low, rumbling voice. He rolled his eyes and complied, walking into the den to see his parents curled up together on the couch, watching the latest "it" drama on TBS. He felt a slight pang as he looked at them. They were so remarkably in tune with each other and still blissfully in love, even after all of these years. He wondered now if he and Aki could ever have something like that.

"Yes?"

Nanao smiled up at him. "I just wanted to know how the planning for the charity ball performance went."

"It didn't," he sighed.

Shunsui looked away from the television. "It didn't?"

"Things…changed," he muttered, perching on the ottoman.

Shunsui and Nanao exchanged a look. There were volumes and volumes of meaning to those two words and they both reached the same conclusion. "Things do change," she ventured.

"You and Aki-chan have changed," his father added shrewdly. "The question is, how are you two going to adapt to it?"

Halu rubbed his forehead. He loved having philosophical conversations with his parents, but now was not the time. "Thank you, I think. I would really like to continue this conversation again, but some other time please."

"Go to bed, Halu," Nanao said softly. "Things will be clearer in the morning."

"I hope so," he sighed.

Nanao watched as her son wandered out of the room, lost in his own thoughts. She leaned against her husband with a sigh. "I am so happy that we've passed that stage a long time ago," she murmured. "The uncertainty, the waiting, the hoping…no, I am very glad to be here." A slight snore buzzed in her ear. "Shunsui?"

Sure enough, he was dozing. Nanao rolled her eyes. "Silly man," she said affectionately, tracing the laugh lines on his face that had deepened endearingly over the years. She reached up and kissed the corner of his mouth. "I love you, Kyouraku Shunsui. _Plus que hier, moins que demain_."

Strong arms wrapped around her. "Lovely, lovely Nanao-chan," he crooned in her ear. Chocolate-brown eyes regarded her adoringly. She seemed to grow more beautiful with each passing day. "Never doubt how ecstatic I am to be here with you, _mon âme sœur_."

* * *

Halu was in the office early the next day making phone calls to Tokyo General when Aki came in. "Yes, Ishida-san, I would be grateful if you could make arrangements with the children's wing." He nodded absently at her. "My time schedule is very flexible, so I can work it around their availability. Just let me know." He paused. "Yes, I am aware that your daughter-in-law is a costume designer. She is my first choice for the children's costumes. Yes, thank you Ishida-san. Please keep me updated."

"Good morning," Aki said coolly.

"Good morning," he replied amiably. The two stared at each other from across the desk.

It was better to get straight to the point, Aki decided. "What happened yesterday should not happen again, Halu," she said quietly, holding up a hand when he would have protested. "I'm going to be honest here, so let me finish. I'm fine with a working relationship. Maybe in time we can be friends again. But last night opened up a lot of wounds for me." She swallowed. "Three years ago, I loved you. But you left. Now you're back, and things have changed. _We _have changed. I have the responsibility…the _right, _to protect myself from you. I'm not willing to go through that again."

There. Everything was on the table. She folded her hands and stared at him.

"Perhaps I should explain something too," he said eventually, flabbergasted and off-balance with her admission. "Our friendship meant everything to me. I reacted badly to your change in vocation because in my mind, I felt that by abandoning ballroom, you were throwing aside our friendship as well." He tilted his head and looked at her. "Can you blame me for my reaction?"

"But that's not what-" Aki began, incensed.

"We've gone over this," he interrupted, pausing to wipe his glasses. "It was a misunderstanding on both our parts. I realize that now and so should you." His brown gaze was disconcerting. "If I'd known you loved me, perhaps I would have done things differently, I don't know. We were young and we made mistakes. We can't change what happened then, but we have control of our actions now. I would not mind being friends again."

Aki let out a long, slow breath. It was disconcerting that he had not admitted to feeling anything but friendship. Perhaps she shouldn't have felt put out, but she did. But as long as they could put the events of last night behind them, she would be all right. Her heart would be safe. "Friends is good, Halu."

Halu got to his feet. "Perhaps you could contact Ishida Orihime about designing the children's costumes for the event. I'm thinking about a ballroom dance revue."

"That's a good idea," she said, scribbling it down on a pad. She could deal with business. She needed it right now. "You'll divide the kids into groups performing certain dances, then?"

"I think so." He paused in the doorway. "Aki?"

"Yes, Halu?"

"There's one more thing you should know."

"What's that?" she said vaguely, her mind already going through the possibilities.

"I'm in love with you."

Her pen flew out of her hand, her heart leaping into her throat. "What?"

"Autumn and spring, always connected," he murmured, one hand on the doorknob. "But they haven't been connected for three years. Last night, autumn and spring met once more, and spring realized that it never wanted to be separated from autumn again."

"Damn it, Halu. Damn it." She was trembling.

"For what it's worth, my heart is yours, Aki. It always has been." With that, he left.

* * *

Aki watched from the doorway as Halu coached the children through their first run-through. He'd done a spectacular job with choreography, assigning partners and then dividing them into groups for each style of dance. The audience would get a small taste of every International Standard and Ballroom dance.

Aki had done her part as well, coordinating with the events crew over the actual performance. She had also procured the costumes, courtesy of one very agreeable Ishida Orihime. The now-famous designer had barely blinked at the request for thirty costumes for ten different dances. "Don't worry, I'll handle it myself!" the woman assured Aki, bouncing a ginger-haired, blue-eyed baby girl on her hip. "I'm going to have so much fun!"

In short, the children's performance was going to be an absolute success, so she wasn't even worrying about that anymore. Instead, she worried about the conversation she'd had with Halu close to a month ago.

Sometimes it seemed like he'd never confessed that he was in love with her. Truth be told, they were both so busy coordinating the children's dance for the ball on top of their responsibilities at school and at 8/13 to really talk about that last incident in the office. However, Aki had plenty of time to stew over it at night, which she did.

She was lying when she said she didn't know this Halu. Somehow, she'd always known him better than she knew herself. Even the years apart hadn't changed that. The combination of the dance and his confession had opened _this _Halu up to her. She understood everything he did and every motivation he had. She knew, without a doubt, that he did love her.

And she loved him. It was rather surprising to learn that their separation hadn't weakened those feelings – in fact, they had only strengthened them. She'd only _thought _she hated him, simply because she'd been so hurt by the loss of him for three years. Yes, she loved him and wanted everything that he was poised to give her, but part of her still hung back, reluctant to take the leap once more.

"Well, that's an expression I never thought I'd see again, Aki-chan," a liquid gold voice purred in her ear.

Aki spun around. "Yoruichi-ba!" she gasped, launching herself into the older woman's embrace. "It's so good to see you! What are you doing here? What do you mean about my expression?"

The Shihouin clan head laughed and tossed back her long purple hair, now liberally streaked with gray. "So many questions, as usual! I'm here for the charity ball, what else? It wouldn't do for a member of the hospital board to be absent, right?" Her golden eyes turned shrewd. "And as for your second question…well, I haven't seen that mixture of terror and longing on your face since you were seventeen."

Aki blushed, mortified. Was she really that easy to read? "Ah…"

"For heaven's sake!" Yoruichi put her hands on her hips, scowling. "Will you two stop dancing around each other and just dance together?"

"W-what?"

The older woman shot her a look. "You and Halu have been in love with each other since you were children. You know it, he knows it, and the rest of the studio knows it. So _do _something about it!"

"But the three years-"

"Are irrelevant because you love each other."

Aquamarine eyes clouded in confusion. "It _cannot _be that simple."

"And yet it is." She shrugged. "Those three years shaped you both into the people that you needed to be. You've grown up, and along with growing up comes the understanding of what it takes to be _together_, do you understand?"

"I think so." Aki bit her lip.

"Good. Explain it to me, then."

"We're more mature," she said slowly. "We've learned how to work together, to discuss issues and work them out. We…respect and trust each other. We wouldn't have known how to do those things when we were younger."

"Indeed. And how do you feel about Halu?" Yoruichi prodded.

"I love him," she admitted, thinking it over. "But it's more than that. It's knowing that we have come this far and seeing who we are. It's seeing him now, as the man that he is..." Her eyes sparkled with the sudden knowledge. "And knowing that the wait, the pain, and the distance was worth it. _He's _worth it."

"Aki."

She whirled around, going red all over again. Halu stood in the middle of a crowd of whispering, giggling kids. Even though she and Yoruichi stood in the doorway, the acoustics of the ballroom had made their dialogue public. "Hey! This is a private conversation!"

His eyes blazed with the depth of emotion he was feeling, turning chocolate brown to molten black. Caught in that gaze, it felt like someone was pounding out the beat on a taiko drum inside her chest. "I don't care." He crossed the length of the ballroom in a few long strides, hauling her up on her toes as his mouth swooped down on hers.

The kids began cheering. This was the best show ever! Yoruichi nodded with satisfaction. Rangiku and Shunsui _so_ owedher.

Halu broke the kiss, cupping Aki's face between his hands. His strong, capable hands, she thought dizzily. He was right about their connection. It was still there. He would always be there to catch her, to save her…especially if it was from herself. "I don't care what you decide," he whispered. "Business, dancing, or joining the circus, it doesn't matter. I just want you to be happy."

Kami, she was going to embarrass herself if she started crying in front of the kids. "_Baka_," she said affectionately. "Halu, I have only ever been happy with you by my side. _You _are all I need to be happy."

"Thank god," he said feelingly, pulling her back into his embrace once more.

She grinned impishly. "Though that circus thing is a novel idea!"

"Koneko-chan, come on, we're going to be late for the board meeting…what on _earth _is causing this commotion?" Shunsui, Nanao, Byakuya, and Jyuushiro stopped in the doorway.

Nanao reacted first. "Oh!" Despite herself, tears welled up in her eyes as she looked at her son and yes, future daughter-in-law so closely twined together. She hastily accepted the handkerchief Byakuya offered her. "Thank you, Kuchiki-san."

"It is no problem, Kyouraku-san." He cleared his throat. "I am happy that the two children have resolved their issues, though should Halu-kun break her heart again…I will not be so favorably inclined towards him."

"I think you would have to line up behind Rangiku and Toushiro-san if that were the case," she chuckled. "But I do not believe that such a thing will happen again."

"Indeed not," Byakuya observed dryly as a sobbing Shunsui launched himself at the two. A corner of his mouth twitched as Jyuushiro tried to drag him away from the embarrassed couple while Yoruichi laughed hysterically from off to the side. "With a love like that, one endeavors to learn from their mistakes and not repeat them."

"Hear hear," Nanao laughed softly. "Now, I must retrieve my wandering parakeet, as we still have a board meeting to attend." The petite woman walked over to her husband, grabbed his ear, and marched out of the ballroom.

"A most remarkable woman," Byakuya said to no one in particular, following after the two.

* * *

Aki sat on the concrete railing, her feet swinging out over the edge. She hummed happily to herself, tilting her head back to look at the sky. She didn't care that she was probably getting runs in her silk evening gown. The children's performance had gone off without a hitch, with the children looking spectacular in Ishida Orihime's designs and performing with exuberance and glee. Everything had come together perfectly.

_Especially _her relationship with Halu. She knew they were in the "honeymoon" stage right now and that they would probably fall back into the casual, bickering stage that marked much of their friendship, but the fact remained that they were together. She knew the four seasons song that her mother had named her for, and it was indeed true that the man autumn loved was a matured person. So was autumn, in any case.

"Uh-oh, I've seen _that _look before," Rangiku laughed as she came up beside her daughter. "Besotted much, my dear?"

"Please, like I haven't seen you looking at tou-san like that before."

"That's why I'm so thrilled!" the golden-haired woman protested good-naturedly. She winked. "Let's look at wedding dresses tomorrow, ne?"

"Kaa-san!" Aki was torn between amusement and horror. "Just because Halu and I are officially together does not mean that we're anywhere _near _ready for marriage!"

Rangiku pouted. "But I've been planning-"

"The wedding since I was born, I know. You'll have to wait a little while longer, kaa-san." She grinned impishly and kissed her on the cheek. "But that doesn't mean that we can't order some bridal catalogues!"

"That's my girl," Rangiku said proudly. Her eyes brightened as the band struck up a new song. "Oooh, I love this song. I'm off."

Aki watched as her mother literally pounced on her father and pulled him onto the dance floor. He made the token protest, as usual, but acquiesced quite easily. Aki smiled as they moved together on the dance floor, still graceful after all these years. They were so perfect together, so in tune, so in love. Her mother would make some sort of random observation and her father would roll his eyes, but he would also run his fingers through the ends of her hair. She used to be envious of the way they looked at each other. There was no mistaking it, even when her father was at his most exasperated.

"Dance with me?"

Aki looked down to see Halu standing right in front of her, a hand extended. "Of course!" she exclaimed, placing a hand in his and hopping off the railing. When he pulled her into his arms, she could hardly suppress a delighted shiver.

"What is it?" he asked.

"We fit perfectly." She grinned.

"As if there was any doubt," he chuckled. They swayed in silence for a while. "We'll soon be full partners in the running of 8/13," he remarked.

"I'm ready for it, as long as you're with me."

"Always," he promised.

Aki tilted her head back to look at him. Her breath caught in her throat at the look in his eyes, as it did so often these days. Yes, she _used _to be envious about the way her parents looked at each other, but no longer. Not when she knew Halu looked at her the exact same way, and she him.

Halu pulled her closer, burying his face in the fall of her hair. He'd waited so very long for the chance to love her and now it was here. They had come full circle, starting fresh, just like the seasons they were named after.

Byakuya watched the two of them, a sentimental smile on his face. "How I wish you were here to see this, Hisana," he murmured. A breeze smelling of plum blossoms wafted over him, bringing with it a sense of peace. His smile grew wider. She was there. He raised his champagne flute slightly. "A toast to the young lovers," he said. "That there may be more life, laughter, and love at the 8/13 studio."

* * *

**A/N. **Wow. It is officially finished. I am so, so sorry about how long it took me to put this back up. Life, such as it is, has a way of crashing down on your head. I also encountered a block of epic proportions - I cannot tell you how many drafts of this chapter I wrote and discarded before I came up with this one. OCs are pretty hard to write, as it turns out!

This has been the wildest journey. I never, ever could have imagined this when I first wrote _Sway_. I fully intended to leave it at that, but the series kind of exploded on me! This really could not have happened without you guys, the readers. Your praise and encouragement have truly kept me going throughout this entire series. Your reviews have remained a bright spot for me on many a gloomy day. Yes, that last bit was totally cheesy, but it was also true! I'm truly humbled by you guys. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

As always, poptate has been instrumental in the execution of this series (she's the one who encouraged me to write _Sway _in the first place). Hugs to the best beta ever! A special shout-out also goes out to MatsuMama, for filling in poptate's shoes occasionally and coming up with so many great ideas for the series.


End file.
